Tag: big 12 basketball

Colorado newcomer named preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year

Tabitha Betson appears primed for a huge freshman season with the Buffs

Ahead of her first college season, Colorado women’s basketball forward Tabitha Betson was named the 2024-25 preseason Big 12 Freshman of the Year on Thursday.

Betson, a 2024 McDonald’s All-American Game nominee, was ranked by ESPN as the No. 48 prospect in her class — the highest among Big 12 incoming freshmen.

The 6-foot-2 rookie from Melbourne, Australia becomes the first player in the head coach JR Payne era to earn preseason conference Freshman of the Year honors. Only three other players in program history have earned the distinction: Nikki Weddle (1997-98), Britt Hartshorn (1998-99) and Sabrina Scott (1999-2000).

“The first time we ever saw Tabitha play, we knew she was a must-get for us,” Payne said (h/t CUBuffs.com). “We were thrilled when she signed here, and we knew she would be an impactful player right away. I definitely believe she is the best freshman in the conference, if not the country, as far as what she brings to the table from a basketball and IQ standpoint.”

Coming off back-to-back NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 appearances, Colorado was picked to finish ninth in the preseason Big 12 women’s basketball poll.

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3 takeaways from Big 12 basketball schedule reveal

Arizona has a soft conference slate in its first Big 12 season, that and other takeaways from the league’s schedule reveal.

The Big 12 conference is absolutely loaded ahead of the 2024-25 college basketball season. While three of the new league members – Colorado, Utah, and Arizona State – aren’t big needle movers on the hardwood, the addition of Arizona adds yet another top five caliber team to a conference already projected to have four teams ranked in the top 10: Kansas, Baylor, Houston, and Iowa State.

That, combined with projected improvements at BYU, Kansas State, West Virginia, Cincinnati, and Oklahoma State, could make this the deepest and most talent rich league in all of college basketball.

The Big 12 revealed conference matchups on Thursday, although times and TV data will come later. Still, this gives us a great look at how things will play out in conference play starting in late December and running up until a loaded final slate of games on March 8th.

Here are three key takeaways from Thursday’s Big 12 schedule reveal:

Arizona given cushy start

The Big 12 is so deep and talent-rich it’s hard to call any of the conference schedules ‘easy’, but it is also clear the league’s most promising newcomer – Tommy Lloyd’s Arizona Wildcats – were given a bit of a gift in the early part of conference play.

Arizona opens league play at home against TCU on December 30th before starting road play on January 4th at Cincinnati and January 7th at West Virginia. They play at home against Central Florida on January 11th before finally facing one of the top teams in the league, Baylor, on January 14th at home.

All in all Arizona’s road slate of Big 12 games is pretty cushy until mid February – then the rubber hits the road. The Wildcats close with road games at Kansas State, Baylor, Iowa State, and Kansas between February 11th and March 8th. That gauntlet will give us a great picture of what Lloyd’s team is made of.

Wednesday night is party night

A lot of college basketball leagues are pivoting to hosting marquee games on Friday in an effort to corner the sports market while avoiding NFL Sundays and the crowded Saturday slates.

While the Big 12 is not one of those leagues, avoiding Friday games altogether, the conference did make a concerted effort to schedule a lot of marquee matchups on Wednesdays.

Kansas hosts Arizona State on January 8th and then goes on the road to face Iowa State the following Wednesday, January 15th. That same day Utah plays at TCU, Cincinnati at Colorado, and West Virginia goes to Houston.

The next Wednesday, January 22nd, Kansas and Kansas State both go on the road in Texas to face TCU and Baylor, respectively, and the final Wednesday of the month features Oklahoma State at Kansas State, TCU at Texas Tech, and Houston in Morgantown returning the favor against West Virginia.

Going out with a bang

Saturday, March 8th is the final day of the regular season, and the Big 12 ensured all eyes would be on them with an incredibly loaded slate of games.

All 16 teams will be in action, with some of the biggest brands in the league facing off in a day that could have widespread ramifications not only in the conference standings, but in the top 25 and seeding for the NCAA Tournament.

Arizona plays at Kansas, Iowa State is at Kansas State, and Houston is at Baylor in the three most notable games between six teams all projected to be inside the top 25, five who could reasonably begin the season in the top ten.

March 8th also features a rivalry game between Utah and BYU in Provo and a fun matchup between TCU and Colorado, finishing up the regular season on a very high note.

Colorado women’s basketball reveals complete 2024-25 schedule

Check out the new-look Colorado women’s basketball team’s complete 2024-25 schedule:

Amid its first week of official practices, Colorado women’s basketball announced its complete 2024-25 regular season schedule on Thursday.

The Buffs’ 29-game slate begins with 11 nonconference matchups, including seven at the CU Events Center, before Big 12 Conference play kicks off on Dec. 21 vs. West Virginia. Colorado officially rejoined the Big 12 last month following a 13-season run in the Pac-12.

Ninth-year head coach JR Payne shared the following on Colorado’s 2024-25 slate:

“We are very excited about the upcoming season and this year’s team,” Payne said in a press release. “With many new faces and our rejoining of the Big 12 Conference, this will be an unbelievably exciting year. Our schedule will challenge us with various styles of play and push us to compete on the road as well.”

Here’s a look at Colorado’s nonconference schedule (home games in bold):

  • Oct. 27 vs. Colorado School of Mines (exhibition)
  • Nov. 4 at Wyoming
  • Nov. 7 vs. Northern Colorado
  • Nov. 10 at Boise State
  • Nov. 12 at Nevada
  • Nov. 17 vs. Southern
  • Nov. 19 vs. Utah State
  • Nov. 27 at Utah Tech
  • Nov. 30 vs. Louisville
  • Dec. 3 vs. Tennessee Tech
  • Dec. 7 vs. Southern Utah
  • Dec. 10 vs. Denver

Looking at Colorado’s Big 12 slate, the Buffs will host West Virginia, UCF, Kansas, Kansas State, Texas Tech, Arizona, Houston, Baylor and Arizona State. Road games will come against TCU, Baylor, West Virginia, Cincinnati, BYU, Iowa State, Utah, Oklahoma State and Texas Tech.

Colorado’s complete 2024-25 schedule can be viewed here.

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Oklahoma State lands commitment from 2025 4-star small forward

Head coach Steve Lutz brought in a big time recruit for Oklahoma State for the 2025-2026 season.

The Oklahoma State Cowboys are coming off a 12-20 season a year ago, leading to the firing of Mike Boynton and subsequent hiring of Steve Lutz, who is looking to add to his roster for upcoming seasons.

The Cowboys made a splash with a big recruit as 2025 forward Ryan Crotty committed to the program on Friday.

The 6’5, 180lbs small forward out of Charlottesville is a four-star recruit who was getting a ton of interest from other programs, choosing the Cowboys over Clemson, Virginia Tech, Miami, and Butler.

Crotty officially visited Stillwater in August, then seven days later committed to the program. He was slated to visit Miami and Virginia Tech later this month and Clemson in October.

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The sharpshooting wing averaged 18.5 points per game and 5.3 rebounds during his junior season at Miller School in Virginia. He played on the Nike EYBL circuit this summer and scored just shy of 13 points per game. He went one game at Peach Jam where he was a perfect 12 for 12 from the free throw line.

Oklahoma State is going to have an entirely new look with 10 new scholarships for the 2024-2025 season. The Cowboys have seven players listed as seniors, which will open up spots for others to join Crotty in Stillwater in 2025.

With this commitment, Oklahoma State is ranked 25th in the country for the 2025 class, which comes in second in the incredibly basketball-rich Big 12 conference.

Big 12 dangled the carrot for UConn, just like they did with Gonzaga

The Big 12 paused conference expansion talk with UConn, just like they did one year ago with the Gonzaga Bulldogs.

The UConn Huskies and Big 12 mutually agreed to pause conversations about having the back-to-back men’s basketball national champions join the conference, according to a press release from commissioner Brett Yormark.

As commissioner, it is my responsibility to explore a variety of value-creating opportunities on behalf of the Big 12. Following detailed discussions with my conference colleagues alongside UConn leadership, we have jointly decided to pause our conversations at this time. We will instead focus our attention and resources to ushering in this new era of college athletics.

UConn athletic director David Benedict released a statement as well, seeming to contradict the idea that the decision was mutual:

“Undoubtedly, many of you have followed recent media reports about the Big 12’s renewed interest in UConn as a conference member. It is always our objective to put UConn in the very best position for future success, so we did engage in exploratory dialogue with the Big 12. Ultimately, the Big 12 determined that it will pause on conversations about membership expansion.”

If this story looks familiar, it is because the sequence of events is eerily similar to what happened almost exactly one year ago between the Big 12 and the Gonzaga Bulldogs out of the WCC.

Gonzaga and the Big 12 engaged in conversation, Yormark publicly made it clear he believes Gonzaga is a value add to the conference, the talks seemed to progress quickly, and then ultimately fell apart with enough backlash from voting parties who wanted to first focus on integrating the eight new programs added over the past two years before adding again.

Does this mean the Big 12 will never accept UConn, or Gonzaga? Not necessarily, but there are enough dissenters within the conference presidents and athletic directors to keep this from happening in the short term.

Yormark tried and failed to make Gonzaga a member in 2023, getting feedback that the timing was too soon, and tried again a year later hoping an even bigger brand – in a more appealing market coming off back-to-back national titles and with a football program, albeit a bad one – would generate the necessary votes to expand.

No go once again, and now the wait continues for both the Zags and Huskies.

BYU adds 6’10 big man from Serbia to roster for 2024-25 season

It was a good week for BYU basketball, as they picked up a huge addition to the 2024-2025 team in Serbian center Mihailo Boskovic.

BYU basketball coach Kevin Young picked up a massive addition to the roster this week. Mihailo Boskovic has been added to the Cougars roster and is eligible immediately.

Boskovic is 6’10 and can hit the outside shot. He also has shown the ability to protect the rim on the defensive end.  He is not a traditional freshman coming into a program, as he was the MVP of the FIBA Europe U20 Tournament. He won the award over Bobi Klintman, who was drafted by the Pistons 37th overall in the 2024 NBA draft.

Last summer, Boskovic had a pre-draft workout with the Sacramento Kings, but elected to withdraw his name early in the process.

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That is now seven new recruits for the Cougars, along with the eight players that remained on the roster following the departure of Mark Pope.

Coach Young already added a star from overseas in Egor Demin, and now brings in Boskovic to help in the interior, joining Keba Keita and Mawot Mag who both entered the program. Keita came from Utah, and Mag is coming from Rutgers.

Terrance Arceneaux granted hardship waiver for 2023-2024 season

Houston Cougars guard Terrance Arceneaux was granted a hardship waiver by the NCAA after missing most of last year with an achilles injury.

Big news for Kelvin Sampson and the Houston Cougars basketball team as shooting guard Terrance Arceneaux was granted an NCAA hardship waiver for the 2023-2024 season.

He will now compete as a sophomore this year, and still has three years left of eligibility. Arceneaux suffered an Achilles injury last season. Before his injury, he played just 11 games for the Cougars.

His freshman season was a productive one. He was named to the All-Freshman team in the AAC. He started in the conference title game after the Cougars lost Marcus Sasser. Arceneaux scored nine points in the game.

During that season, he played just shy of 14 minutes per game and averaged 3.7 points. Arceneaux came to Houston out of Beaumont Texas. He led his high school team to a Class 5A state title. During that season he scored 15.1 points per game.

He chose Houston over schools such as Oklahoma, Texas A&M and UNLV.  The Cougars are once again going to be very good under Sampson’s leadership. One of the most talented players in the league returns for the Cougars in LJ Cryer, out of Katy Texas.

The Cougars will start their 2024-2025 season against Jackson State on November 4th. The Cougars will then play in The BattleGround 2k24 at the Toyota Center against the Auburn Tigers on November 9th.

Texas Longhorns to host NBA matchup in Kevin Durant’s return to Austin

Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns will play the San Antonio Spurs at the University of Texas in February.

A battle between two Olympic basketball stars will take place at the Moody Center on the campus of the Texas Longhorns in February of 2025.

Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns will take on Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs on February 20, 2025 at the Moody Center in what will be a homecoming for Durant – who spent one season with the Longhorns in 2006-07.

Durant averaged 25.8 points and 11.1 rebounds in his lone season at Texas, earning AP and Big 12 Player of the Year while becoming the first freshman to win the Naismith Trophy as the best player in college hoops.

The Moody Center has hosted the Spurs in a pair of games each of the past two seasons since opening in 2022, although this will be Durant’s first time playing in the arena.

The future Hall of Famer had his jersey retired by Texas in 2008 and the men’s basketball facility named after him in 2017 after he made a $3 million contribution.

Durant and Team USA secured a gold medal victory over Wembanyama and France last week in Paris, giving KD his fourth gold medal ahead of his age-35 season.

BYU among top seven for 2025 star prospect AJ Dybantsa

The top high school basketball player in the country, AJ Dybantsa, included BYU in his top seven over Duke or Kentucky.

Star forward AJ Dybantsa, the consensus No. 1 player in the 2025 recruiting class, revealed the seven schools he is considering to ESPN on Friday morning.

The 6’9 wing, who will play his final high school season at Hurricane Prep in Utah, revealed a final seven of Alabama, Auburn, Baylor, BYU, Kansas, Kansas State, and North Carolina.

It’s not every year the top prospect in the sport considers BYU over Duke or Kentucky, but the Cougars are a legitimate player in the Dybantsa sweepstakes after establishing the program as a recruiting power under new coach Kevin Young.

Dybantsa has taken just one official visit so far, to Auburn, but he unofficially visited BYU and is planning to make a return visit in an official capacity.

Dybantsa’s size, athleticism, and natural scoring ability have many projecting him as a future NBA star, drawing comparisons to Paul George.

BYU doesn’t have any commits in the 2025 class as of now, but coach Young went to work adding some of the highest rated recruits in program history in 2024, including Purdue decommit Kanon Catchings, russian star guard Egor Demin, and former Stanford commit Elijah Crawford.

Former Colorado guard shines for Team USA in win over South Sudan

Former Colorado guard Derrick White had a big game off the bench for Team USA in an Olympic win over South Sudan.

The last player added to Team USA’s roster showed he more than belonged with an outstanding performance off the bench in a 103-86 win over South Sudan on Wednesday.

Derrick White, who replaced an injured Kawhi Leonard a few weeks before the Olympic Games began, scored 10 points while adding three steals, one rebound, one assist, and one block on perfect 3-3 shooting – all coming from beyond the arc.

White, who is coming off an NBA Championship with the Boston Celtics, doesn’t exactly have the career many would expect for someone named to the 12-man Team USA roster.

He’s never been an All-Star or an All-NBA player, his career averages of 12.3 points and 4.1 assists are good but not great, and he has just two All-Defensive Second Team nods to his name.

However, the former Colorado guard’s defense and outside shooting provided a boost for Team USA in the second quarter, and his understanding of his role as a 3-and-D guard provides a perfect compliment to the more ball-dominant players on the roster – like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Anthony Edwards.

White spent one year in college with the Buffs, averaging 18.1 points, 4.4 assists, 4.1 rebounds, 1.4 blocks, and 1.2 steals in 2016-17. That led to him getting selected 29th overall in 2017 by the San Antonio Spurs, eventually making his way to Boston in 2021 and making back-to-back All Defensive Teams and finishing eight in Defensive Player of the Year voting in 2023-24.

Team USA will play Puerto Rico on Saturday, August 3 at 11:15 AM ET in the final game of group play.